The field of the present invention is modular shelves that are mounted to a wall. Though the invention is usable as shelves for books or decorative items, the present invention is particularly useful as a modular climbing and perching system for domestic cats.
Climbing pets, such as domestic cats, love to climb up to and perch on surfaces that are some distance from the ground. Many cat-climbing devices are available on the market today, including carpeted climbing posts that have shelf-like surfaces attached to the post at different levels. Some cat climbing enthusiasts have invented patent shelf systems for cats such as Thomas Conwell's now expired U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,933 showing a plurality of shelves that are mounted at different levels on a wall. More recently N. Bruce Barker, in his U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,470 describes a cat perch system that uses a series of horizontal posts mounted to a wall where flexible panels can be mounted and extend from one post to another to create a series of shelves that a cat can climb or sit on.
Although the Barker patent uses the posts as a hinge point to join adjacent shelves together, it does not accommodate for the ability to join two rigid shelves together in a hinged fashion. Additionally, the posts must be connected to a horizontal support plate, and the support plate is then screwed to the wall, creating additional materials and expense to attach the posts to the wall. The aesthetics of the room are also compromised.